Electronic device and method of adjusting viewing angles of liquid crystal displays

Abstract

In an electronic device and a method of adjusting a viewing angle of a liquid crystal display (LCD), a face recognition reference is established. The face recognition reference is compared with faces in an image which is captured by a camera unit to locate a matched face. An adjusted viewing angle of the LCD is computed according to a default viewing angle of the LCD and an angle between a perpendicular of the LCD and a line formed by connecting a center of the LCD and a center of two eyes in the matched face. A voltage value is computed according to the adjusted viewing angle, and a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal molecules of the LCD according to the voltage value to change the default viewing angle of the LCD to the adjusted viewing angle.

1 . A method of adjusting a viewing angle of a liquid crystal display (LCD) of an electronic device, comprising:
 (a) selecting a face recognition reference from a storage unit, and turning on a camera unit of the electronic device;   (b) comparing faces in a current image which is captured by the camera unit with the face recognition reference, to determine that whether there is a face in the current image matching the face recognition reference;   (c) locating a matched face;   (d) computing an angle between a perpendicular of the LCD and a line formed by connecting a center of the LCD and a center of two eyes in the matched face;   (e) computing an adjusted viewing angle of the LCD according to a default viewing angle of the LCD and the angle computed above;   (f) computing a voltage value according to the adjusted viewing angle; and   (g) applying a voltage to the liquid crystal molecules of the LCD according to the voltage value, to change the default viewing angle of the LCD to the adjusted viewing angle.   
     
     
         2 . The method as described in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 (h) blackening the screen of the LCD and giving an alarm upon condition that there is no face in the current image matching the face recognition reference.   
     
     
         3 . The method as described in  claim 1 , wherein a degree of match between the matched face and the face recognition reference is greater than a predetermined percent. 
     
     
         4 . The method as described in  claim 1 , before (a), further comprising:
 providing a reference image which contains at least one image;   prompting the user to select a face in the reference image; and   determining that a selected face is a face recognition reference, and storing the dace recognition reference into the storage unit.   
     
     
         5 . The method as described in  claim 4 , wherein the reference image is originally stored in the storage unit or is captured by the camera unit. 
     
     
         6 . A non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of adjusting a viewing angle of a liquid crystal display (LCD) in an electronic device, comprising:
 (a) selecting a face recognition reference from a storage unit, and turning on a camera unit of the electronic device;   (b) comparing faces in a current image which is captured by the camera unit with the face recognition reference, to determine that whether there is a face in the current image matching the face recognition reference;   (c) locating a matched face;   (d) computing an angle between a perpendicular of the LCD and a line formed by connecting a center of the LCD and a center of two eyes in the matched face;   (e) computing an adjusted viewing angle of the LCD according to a default viewing angle of the LCD and the angle computed above;   (f) computing a voltage value according to the adjusted viewing angle; and   (g) applying a voltage to the liquid crystal molecules of the LCD according to the voltage value, to change the default viewing angle of the LCD to the adjusted viewing angle.   
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory storage medium as described in  claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises:
 (h) blackening the screen of the LCD and giving an alarm upon condition that there is no face in the current image matching the face recognition reference.   
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory storage medium as described in  claim 6 , wherein a degree of match between the matched face and the face recognition reference is greater than a predetermined percent. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory storage medium as described in  claim 6 , wherein before (a), the method further comprises:
 providing a reference image which contains at least one image;   prompting the user to select a face in the reference image; and   determining that a selected face is a face recognition reference, and storing the dace recognition reference into the storage unit.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory storage medium as described in  claim 9 , wherein the reference image is originally stored in the storage unit or is just captured by the camera unit. 
     
     
         11 . A electronic device, comprising:
 a liquid crystal display (LCD);   a camera unit;   at least one processor;   storage unit;   one or more programs that are stored in the storage unit and are executed by the at least one processor, the one or more programs comprising:
 a reference establishment module to establish a face recognition reference; 
 a face recognition module to compare faces in a current image which is captured by the camera unit with the face recognition reference , to determine that whether there is a face in the current image matching the face recognition reference, and to locate a matched face; 
 an adjusted viewing angle computation module to compute an adjusted viewing angle of the LCD according to a default viewing angle of the LCD and an angle between a perpendicular of the LCD and a line formed by connecting a center of the LCD and a center of two eyes in the matched face; and 
 a voltage applying module to compute a voltage value according to the adjusted viewing angle of the LCD, and apply a voltage to the liquid crystal molecules of the LCD according to the voltage value to change the default viewing angle of the LCD to the adjusted viewing angle. 
   
     
     
         12 . The electronic device as described in  claim 11 , wherein the reference establishment module further to store the face recognition reference into the storage unit. 
     
     
         13 . The electronic device as described in  claim 11 , wherein a degree of match between the matched face and the face recognition reference may be greater than a predetermined percent. 
     
     
         14 . The electronic device as described in  claim 11 , further comprising :
 an alarm module to blacken the screen of the LCD and give an alarm if there is no face in the current image matching the face recognition reference.   
     
     
         15 . The electronic device as described in  claim 11 , wherein the camera unit is fixed at the front of the electronic device. 
     
     
         16 . The electronic device as described in  claim 11 , wherein the face recognition reference is established by:
 selecting a face from a reference image which contains at least one face as the face recognition reference.   
     
     
         17 . The electronic device as described in  claim 16 , wherein the reference image is originally stored in the storage unit or is captured by the camera unit.